Winter Catalog for Bookstores

We all succeed with the MIBA winter catalog. With this powerful marketing tool, the entire indie sales channel collectively gets behind the most exciting books to sell in indie bookstores during the holiday season. We collaborate with publishers, wholesalers, and booksellers to make sure the catalog books are purchased by our booksellers, merchandised in our bookstores, and sold to book lovers throughout the Midwest.

You should know

What books are in the winter catalog?

• Title list. The title list is constantly growing and will be complete as of late August. Publishers book placement, then return to upload title data, so some fields may be blank. The link is continuously updated, so check back frequently.

• Tell us which titles YOU want to see in the catalog. This is super helpful information! We call them Bookseller Favorites. The majority of our titles are submitted by publishers, but a good portion of them are crowd-sourced by our booksellers. Use the link below to submit the titles you want to sell this holiday season. Suggest titles with pub dates from the Spring/Summer 2024 and Fall 2024 seasons. Catalogs land in homes on November 1-5. We recommend pub dates no later than December 1. Submit inherently giftable titles. 

For stores who ordered the catalog in 2023: You will be contacted directly to place your order for 2024 via a custom link that displays last year's order. Do not use the form linked below.

For new stores and those who did not order in 2023: Use the button below to place your order.

Pricing

• Custom front and back cover: $150
• Custom print catalogs automatically get a custom digital catalog at no extra charge
• Custom inside front cover: $150
• Catalogs shipped to store or newspapers: $30 per box of 500
  • The first 1,000 catalogs shipped to stores or newspapers are free
• Catalogs mailed via customer list or saturation: $0.24 per catalog

• July 26: Bookstore orders due
• August 1: Inside front cover (IFC) files are due
• July 31: Saturation mailings finalized with booksellers and Quad Graphics
• August 9: Deadline to approve custom covers
• October 23: Bulk catalogs start shipping to stores and newspapers
• November 1-5: Saturation and customer list catalogs arrive in home

Here are some ideas for maximizing the catalog after you place your order. 

August through October

• Order catalog books direct from the publisher or via Ingram’s special catalog discount, which we will promote widely
  • Pay special attention to titles that will do well in your store and really get behind them. Order in larger numbers and plan a custom marketing strategy 
• Plan your in-store display. Be sure to purchase a point of sale decor package during the ordering process
• Plan your digital marketing strategy. Use MIBA's resources like the digital catalog, publisher assets, and DIY templates digital marketing templates

Custom Front & Back Cover, $150

Bookstores are encourage to replace the standard MIBA branding on the catalog cover with their logo and store info (address, website, store hours, etc.). On the back, you can add specific store messaging such as a coupon for purchasing catalog titles or additional store information. Click here and look below to view an example of a customized front and back cover from the 2023 catalog.

Bonus digital catalog!

Customizing the print catalog automatically gets you a free custom digital version of the catalog. The video below shows some of the features of the digital catalog and its uses. We will also provide an embed code (see embedded catalog below) or a custom qr code to your catalog to help you promote these titles online.

You can submit your graphics for front/back cover customization in two ways:

• Submit just the logo and text and we will design it for you
• Submit the completed graphic you’d like to appear on the catalog for us to place

What you'll need for ordering

• Store logo: This will be used on your custom print and digital catalogs
  • Specs for print: Black & white (NOT grayscale), minimum 300 dpi as a .pdf, .jpg, .tif, .psd, or .ai file
  • Specs for digital: Full color, minimum 75 dpi as a .pdf, .jpg, .tif, .psd, or .ai file
• Text for front cover: Store info you'd like to include (address, website, contact info, store hours, etc.)
• Text for back cover: Include the details of either additional messaging to customers or a coupon offer to incentivize shoppers to find more books.
  • Note: The back cover customization will only be included in the print catalog, NOT your custom digital catalog
• Store postal address: This is the address that will appear on the back cover as the return mailing address. This must be a physical address (not a PO Box) where mail can be received
• Store ecommerce website URL or catalog website URL: This link will be used with your logo in your custom digital catalog for customers to easily click to purchase titles. Most stores use their e-commerce link for the digital catalog, but others link to a special holiday catalog page

Custom Inside Front Cover, $150

This is another opportunity to replace the generic MIBA branding on the inside front cover. The internal front cover has a full color border designed by us. The inside graphic is entirely designed by you. For the print catalog, this graphic must be in black and white. Click here and see image to the right to view an example of a customized inside front cover from the 2023 catalog.

Pro tip: Get creative with the inside front cover. There's a lot of possibilities.

• Partner with a local tourism group to promote your region
• Sell ads to other local businesses in your area to offset your catalog costs
• Feature non-book items your store sells
• Feature a holiday event series

Inside front cover specs

• For print: 5" W x 8" H, black and white (not grayscale), high-quality, .jpg, .png, .ai, or print-ready PDF
• For digital: 1080 W x 1700 H (pixels), black and white or color, 150 ppi (max file size 500k)
• Note: These two spec requirements have different aspect ratios. You will not be able to use the exact same design for both

What you'll need for ordering

• Because designing this graphic is your responsibility and may take time, you may submit your order without the IFC file
• Final IFC files are due August 1

Catalogs to store: $30 per box of 500

The first 1,000 catalogs shipped to store or newspapers are free. You may choose to have catalogs shipped to your store for you and your booksellers to manually distribute to your customers. The catalog makes a great bag stuffer at the register. Many stores team up with other area businesses or chambers of commerce to stock the catalog in their area.

What you'll need for ordering

• Number of catalogs you want to ship to your store. Must be in quantities of 500

Catalogs to newspaper(s): $30 per box of 500

First 1,000 catalogs shipped to store or newspapers are free.

This method of distribution ships boxes of catalogs directly to your area newspaper(s) for insertion. You will need to coordinate directly with your newspaper(s) for the cost and timing of insertion. The cost to ship boxes to newspapers is $30 per box. The first 1,000 catalogs shipped to your store or newspapers are free.

Currently, catalogs to newspapers are scheduled to start shipping on 9/22/23 with the expectation that they need 5 days for delivery. Talk with your newspaper about the flexibility of insertion dates and the possibility for storing catalogs if they arrive early.

Pro tip: Use the newspaper ordering section of the form to send boxes to multiple store locations or regional visitor centers.

Requirements for newspaper insertion

• You are responsible for coordinating costs and timing directly with your newspaper(s)
• The front & back cover should be customized. While this is not strictly a requirement, it is highly recommended. Without your store name, potential customers will not know where to shop

What you'll need for ordering

• Newspaper information including name, address, contact person, and phone number. The address you provide should be the location where the newspaper receives boxes for insertion. This is often different from a newspaper's office location
• Quantity of catalogs to ship to each newspaper. Must be in quantities of 500

Catalog Specs: (Your newspaper will want this info) One single catalog weighs 0.8528 oz. and is 6 x 10.5 inches

Direct mail: We offer two direct mail options

Customer mailing (in-house List): $0.24 per catalog - Reach existing customers

Mail catalogs directly to your existing customer mailing list. You provide us with your customer mailing list and we mail the catalogs to them. No need for any additional work on your part.

Requirements for customer mailing list

• The front and back cover must be customized (postal requirement)
• Minimum of 200 addresses on your mailing list. We can use saturation mailing to supplement if needed to reach the minimum

What you'll need for ordering

• Number of addresses on your customer mailing list
• Excel or .csv file with your customer mailing information. Must be formatted with: recipient name, street address, suite/apartment/unit #, city, state, zip code. Click here to download an excel template

Saturation mailing: $0.24 per catalog - Reach new customers

With saturation mailing, catalogs are sent to every home on a zip code mailing route that you select. Picture this as the route your mail-person walks/drives in a single day. If you've ever received a restaurant coupon flyer or the local car dealership's new line-up postcard, then you know about saturation mailing. Saturation mailing is a great way to entice new customers to your store and one of our most popular catalog marketing options.

Catalogs can be sent to homes in a radius around your store, or you can select specific mailing routes to deliver coupons.

Pro tip: Determine your catalog budget first and use that number to determine how many catalogs you want to mail. Understanding how many catalogs you want to mail will help narrow or expand the area you saturate with catalogs.

Requirements for saturation mailing

• The front and back cover must be customized (postal requirement)
• Catalogs must be sent to the entire mailing route
• Additional follow up is required to finalize your saturation mailing

What you'll need for ordering

• Number of catalogs you would like to mail via saturation mailing. This will be used to provide you with zip code routes that match the number of catalogs you would like to mail. (Without this, the options are overwhelming.)
• If you would like to target specific zip codes, you'll need to provide those zip codes